


Voltron Season 4 Rewrite

by charlaXOyates



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-24
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-03-07 14:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13436616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlaXOyates/pseuds/charlaXOyates
Summary: Voltron's fourth season had a number of issues that took away from it, such as static characterization and unsteady plot build up. So, welcome to my Voltron Season 4 Rewrite, where I will tackle the many issues of Voltron's fourth season and rewrite it into being something better than it was.





	1. Fixing Voltron Season 4

Season 4 of Voltron had...quite a few problems, many of which ended up taking away from it for me. Instead of just complaining like 85% of Tumblr, however, I've decided to rewrite it into being better, to validate my critiques and prove that it had fixable problems. I'll be sticking to a lot of the original concepts, such as the general storyline for each episode, and of course there'll only be 6 episodes/chapters with each one taking into account the 23 minute run time; the idea is to stick to what they had while improving it. Below is a list of some of the issues that I'll be looking to fix:

\- **Character Development**

**Identifying the issue** : Character development is the number one thing that this season failed at. They tried moving Keith out of the way to give the other characters room to have screen time, and yet _still_ failed to give any of them meaningful development and failed to explore any of their character arcs. I really don't know what else to say; there's not any problems to analyze because there's nothing to analyze. There was just...nothing. The main reason for this is because the show in general follows a writing style that is more plot-centric rather than character-centric, and this season in particular really suffers from that. I won't go into it much here, but I'll eventually critique Voltron's general writing style on my blog. I'll be doing a lot of analysis on Voltron on my blog soon, so make sure you check it out [here](https://charlaxoyates.tumblr.com/).

 **My solution** : Obviously, my solution is to explore the arcs of these characters while keeping the plot going, because believe it or not, it is possible to do this. It doesn't take a lot to show a step in a character's personal arc. All it takes is one scene or one line of dialogue to show a lot about a character. In this rewrite of season 4, I will explore Lance's character more, dive into Coran and Allura's characters and their development, and I will actually give Hunk a character arc, since the show has yet to even introduce one for him, and I'll do it all while taking their amount of screen time, that being 23 minutes per episode, into account.

\- **Plot**

**Identifying the issue** : I already mentioned how how this season didn't deliver on the character focus, so that means it must've been plot focused, right? Well...not...really... The season ends up advancing the plot by quite a bit because they take back one-third of the universe and have a bunch of rebels with them in the fight against the Galra, but the season doesn't build up to it. We're just suddenly and randomly introduced to this plan to take back one-third of the universe in the final two episodes.

This season is all about forming the rebel alliance and then using those numbers to take back the universe from the Galra, and while the season does a fine job with building up the forming of the rebel alliance since that's a plot point carried on from season 3, their sudden assault against Naxcela comes out of nowhere, as if they placed it there just for a two part finale and didn't bother to properly build up to it. This really hurts the season because, while the fight is climactic, we start off episode 5 already having the fight all mapped out as if the audience is supposed to know what the quiznak is going on. We have to learn what the team is doing _while_ they're doing it.

 **My solution** : The natural solution is to build up to the big finale better. My episodes will showcase team Voltron preparing for the battle while also building the alliance, and the plot arc for the season will really feel like a through line so that the finale doesn't feel like it's coming out of nowhere.

\- **Operation Kuron**

**Identifying the issue** : The Shiro in season 3 & 4 is a clone. He just is. There is no other explanation for "Operation Kuron". I'm not here to discuss that, though, so if you think otherwise, I'm sure there's a bunch of other blogposts and theories out there for you to read up on until you're convinced. Anyways, my issue is that Kuron/Shiro is an incredibly awful character. He's static, all-business, and boring, and they _need_ to hurry up and pay off the clone Shiro plot line.

 **My solution** : The clone Shiro plot needs some pay off, or at least needs to be explored. I know they're trying to hold off on it in hopes of keeping the audience in suspense, but this isn't the way to do it. You can explore/confirm it while still keeping the audience at the edge of their seats. I will give Operation Kuron a bit more exploration; not spoiling anything here, though, of course. You'll have to read.

\- **Keith**

**Identifying the issue** : I actually think Keith was handled almost well in the actual show. The entire dynamic of "one paladin too many" is really intriguing, and seeing how it affects each of the characters is both heartbreaking and powerful. Having Keith be the one to really pull away in an attempt to almost force Shiro back into the role of Voltron's leader was a really interesting take on his character. Keith's arc revolves around him trying to find his place and trying to decide how he can be of use to the universe. The problem in the show, though, is that Keith just disappears completely. His choice to leave team Voltron doesn't seem like it's to further his character arc; it seems like it was just an excuse to get him out of the way so that he didn't take up so much screen time. They introduced an interesting development with Keith by having him leave for the Blade and never did anything with it in regards to his character. Basically, what they did with Keith was very interesting, but the execution was poor.

 **My solution** : Keith's dynamic in the Blade of Marmora is a very interesting step for his arc, and it needs to be _shown_. I understand not wanting Keith to hog all the screen time, since that was the problem in previous seasons, but there's a very easy way to fit his character arc in while not having it feel like he's stealing the spotlight. Voltron as a show follows a simple structure in terms of screen time; there's always an A plot with team Voltron, and then a B plot with the Galra/Lotor. Since we want Keith to have screen time to show that his decision to join the Blades is a necessary step for his character arc while not being the center of attention, all we need to do is connect his arc to the B plot. Thus, the show becomes all about team Voltron as our A plot, and the B plot becomes the Galra/Lotor/Keith and the Blade of Marmora. 

But what does his arc entail, exactly? Well, the entire purpose for Keith's arc of joining the Blade of Marmora is for him to further explore who he is and what role he can play in saving the universe. Basically, it's him finding himself, and the entire purpose of it is for him to hone his leadership skills outside of team Voltron so that he's eventually ready to lead Voltron again. Therefore, in this rewrite, we will further explore Keith's leadership skills, how he has a tendency to default to Voltron-esque strategies, and how he fits in (or doesn't fit in) with the Blade of Marmora.

\- **Kolivan**

**Identifying the issue** : Who even is Kolivan? Do you know? Do I know? Do the writers know? Why is he so bland? Why is he so insignificant? Why isn't he an actual _character?_ He can be summed up in one sentence: "The leader of the Blade of Marmora". However, that's what he _does_ , not who he _is_. We don't know who he is. I'm going to fix that.

 **My solution** : I have some very interesting things planned for Kolivan, and I won't spoil them here. You're going to have to read the story to figure out what I do with him. Basically, though, he's going to be an actual character with a past that ties in to the plot. He's the leader of the Blade of Marmora, for goodness sakes, he deserves to be an interesting character. Also, naturally, his role as the Blade's leader will directly tie in to Keith's character arc, which I'll be exploring much more than the actual season did.

\- **Lotor**

**Identifying the issue** : Sigh...oh Lotor... Of all the characters that season 4 did wrong, Lotor's character took the hardest hit. His compelling antagonistic character was stripped of all power. He stopped being a threat and just became someone on the run, and even while he was on the run, his quintessence plan that we still don't understand completely flopped. He lost all credibility as a capable character, which was a huge 180 compared to his introduction. This isn't inherently a bad thing—having such a powerful character spun into a situation where he needs to adapt is very good, and I think the direction they took Lotor's character is how his character should go. The problem is that he didn't get enough screen time to build up to it, and his arc was SUPER rushed. They shouldn't have put him on the run until season 5. Here's the thing, if seasons 3 and 4 were originally one season, they technically introduced him as a capable antagonist and then stripped him of all power in the **same season he was introduced.** I don't know how this was considered a good idea.

 **My solution** : To fix Lotor's character, I'm going to give him some real motivation. In the show, he just let Zarkon take the throne back without a fight, and his lines such as "I am the leader, but I am not my father" and "My father is on his deathbed, and I am in control" just makes him seem more like an angsty teen. In my rewrite, Lotor's main motivation will be his desire to prove that he can be better than his father. He will actively attempt to keep the throne, and there will be an actual power struggle within the Galra, unlike in the show where there was no power struggle and Lotor was just suddenly on the run. 

I will also be keeping Lotor's plot line of wanting the comet ships in order to harness quintessence from the other reality. Lotor will not be reduced to an incapable overthrown prince; he will instead be a prince fighting for the throne and fighting for his worth. More facets of his character will surface, including his obsession with being in control and his perfectionist tendencies, and throughout the 6 episodes of the season, we will slowly see Lotor's character beginning to deteriorate under all the pressure so that it isn't rushed and so he can have more time in the limelight to shine as the brilliant antagonist that he is before eventually losing everything.

\- **Lotor's Generals**

**Identifying the issues** : It should come as no surprise that, if Lotor's character suffers, so do the characters of his generals; and _boy_ do they _suffer_. These characters are introduced as Prince Lotor's loyal followers, sticking by his side no matter what. They know that he's manipulating the crowd during his introduction in the gladiator arena, they know Lotor's dark side, but they stick by him anyways. This is what always made their characters intriguing; their fighting for Lotor and they're choosing to support him and stay by his side, and we don't know why. Season 4 tossed this aspect of their characters out the window when they turned on him. Their betrayal was just a chain reaction of Lotor being dethroned so quickly in the first place, so like I've said, a big reason for their issue is Lotor's fault and not theirs. I think them betraying Lotor is the direction their characters should take, but just like with Lotor's character, the show completely rushed it and didn't give them enough screen time to build up to the moment.

Also, don't even get me started on Narti's death. That was the thing that _really_ catapulted the generals down the path they went down in season 4, and it was rushed as all hell. Narti needs more screen time.

 **My Solution** : Since their issue spiraled from the issue with Lotor's character arc, keeping him in power a little longer will fix most of their problems in season 4. Additionally, having Lotor slowly and gradually derailing into losing it allows us to show the generals gradually losing faith in Lotor until their betrayal isn't so sudden. We also need to know more about their motivations and why they follow Lotor before the betrayal happens; particularly Acxa. I'll be properly building up their turn against Lotor by properly building up Lotor's character arc and showing their reactions to how he develops.

\- **Matt Holt**

Do I think he should stay? Should he go? Should he live? Should he stay dead? Should he die later? You'll have to read to figure out what I do with Matt ^^

**The Episodes**

Obviously I'm not going to spoil what's happening in each episode of this rewrite, you'll have to read to find out, but I will take a moment to talk about them. As I stated earlier, I am writing these while taking into account that there is only 23 minutes for 6 episodes for this season, so the theoretical screen time in this rewrite should be about the same as the actual season while fixing all the issues I listed above and more. Additionally, I don't want to completely change the plot of the episodes or the overall season. You see, I am not rewriting the season into my personal fantasy; I'm rewriting it into fixing all the issues and making it something better. So while there will be some _major_ changes to most of the episodes, the general idea of the season will be the same.

Every episode/chapter will be followed by an episode analysis, where I point out all the things I changed in an episode and my reasons for doing so and what my focus was to make each episode better than it was in the actual season. Also, let me just say now that I absolutely adore this show and I would never go through the trouble of rewriting this season if I wasn't super, super invested in Voltron. I just have a lot of critiques to give, but being critical does not by any means mean I love this show any less. Because I freaking love this show.

Episode 1 is probably going to be the episode with the least amount of changes since it sets up a lot of stuff for the rest of the season and Keith needs the screen time they gave him to build up to the end of the episode. Also, it's just one of the better episodes of the season, so it doesn't need much change. The most that I change about it is Lotor's screen time, go figure. Pretty much everything about Lotor is getting an overhaul in my rewrite of this season to make him better.

So without further ado, onto the first episode: "Code of Honor"!


	2. Episode 1: Code of Honor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith's divided attentions brings tension within the team to an all time high as they attempt to build their alliances. Meanwhile, the Blades investigate new and troubling Galra supply routes that are connected to the elusive Prince Lotor, who has a scheme of his own brewing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Out of all the episode rewrites, this one is probably the most similar to how it was in the actual show. If you really just wanna see my analysis and what I changed without reading, you _can_ always just skip to the analysis chapter.

The far reaches of the Paglium Quadrant was covered in ocean that almost seemed to touch the dark blue sky above, reflecting the dusk night and thin clouds to create a mirage of fog dusting across the surface of the water. The most activity that could be seen was the gentle rolling of waves, splashing against a lone Galra alert beacon that floated along with the tide. The tip of the beacon flashed a few times, transitioning between its normal purple color to yellow, but other than that, nothing was amiss.

This quickly changed as the roaring of an engine shook the entire surface of the water, illuminating the ocean in purple as a single Galra cruiser exited hyperdrive right above the beacon, and just like that, any sense of serenity the quadrant once seemed to have was immediately forfeited.

"This is Galra cruiser beta-nine. We are within range and requesting permission to dock."

The Galra commander was answered by a deeper voice from over his communications screen. A simple, "proceed" was all he needed before the cruiser began sinking into the water, disturbing the waves even more than before as the alert beacon continued sounding—for good reason.

Water rushed up around the sides of the cruiser as it descended into the shadowy depths, quickly revealing the secret behind this corner of the quadrant—a hidden underwater Galra base.

"A priority-one shipment is en route. Activate the docking station immediately." A loud voice boomed over the intercom of the base, immediately sending the group of armored common soldiers that occupied the base scurrying to their stations.

"I can't believe we're stuck here. This base predates the Zaipirium Siege." One soldier grunted, pulling down a lever to open the docking station for the incoming cruiser. "It's amazing this equipment still remains operational."

"We're lucky to have it since the rebels overran the Sigma-3 Quadrant; it's all we have left in this system." Another soldier pointed out.

Their conversation was cut short as they continued working with the primitive Galra tech, rotating a nearby wheel to allow the massive Galra cruiser up into the base through the water. Little did they know, the entire ordeal was being observed in close detail.

Three masked figures sat crouched together high above the docking area, uniforms clearly representative of the Blade of Marmora. The binocular-esque vision enhancements to the masks allowed them to take in every action taking place below, including the apparent transferring of large vials between the base and the cruiser.

"We destroyed the Komar. How are the Galra still producing such vast amounts of quintessence?" The middle Galra wondered out loud; one could imagine his eyes narrowing through his voice alone as he turned to his left. "Find out where it's coming from and where it's going."

The two on either side of him turned to carry out the mission, but before the Galra on the right could move much, the leader stopped him. "Remember, this is purely intelligence gathering. _Do not engage_."

The cautioned Galra nodded before darting off.

The first Blade who had gotten a head start was sliding down a tall orifice that seemed to be bottomless, stopping in front of a control panel and slicing through it by wielding the standard luxite knife with their tail. They then proceeded to input the information hard drive, tapping through the screen that popped up with their tail.

Luck was on their side; the Galra in charge of watching the base's intel database was snoozing on the job. There was no telling how frequent of an occurrence this was, but today was probably the single worst day to doze off on as the information quickly finished downloading—one half of the mission was a success.

The other Blade, who had been given a warning just earlier, easily snuck past the sentry that patrolled the hallway, rolling towards the mysterious vials, embodying the definition of stealth before holding out a scanner to said vials.

The information was quickly transmitted back to the leader of the mission, who was glancing at all the intel in disbelief. "Impossible. It's overloading my monitor! I've never seen these kinds of readings before. Regris, do you have the information on the hard drive?"

Before any of them could reply, the sentry made another round towards the vials, only to get a knife to the face as soon as the scanning Blade member had been spotted—but not before shooting several rounds of warning fire.

They'd been discovered.

Their leader was quick to flee the scene. "The op is compromised! Abort! Extraction point in two doboshes; this is a hard out!"

Each of them quickly began pocketing their devices as the Blade who had cost them their infiltration quickly fled down the hallway past the vials, grabbing his knife from the fallen sentry on the way. Alarms were blaring overhead, and if this were a more advanced Galra base, he probably would've been swarmed by soldiers in an instant. Luckily, the only resistance that got in his way were four archaic Galra sentries.

He slid past their shots, moving like a natural in the Blade uniform to dispatch them of their guns before slicing and stabbing through them to finish the job.

By the time he reached the extraction point, he was out of breath, stopping to pant for air as the leader of the mission turned to him in acknowledgement. It was just them two—the other Blade member was missing.

"...he's not back?" He asked, breathy voice distorted through the mask.

"He's got thirty ticks," the leader informed.

There was no time to think about it. Despite being out of breath, he turned to leave his leader in the escape bay, running back into the Galra base, where only demise awaited.

The leader watched him forsake his own life, sighing before turning back to begin the preparations for takeoff.

As the bay doors threatened to close with him as the only survivor of the mission, the other two Blades came bursting through just before they were shut out, with one of them being carried above the other's head.

The escape pod took off through the water as the Blade who had played hero struggled to stand and catch their breath.

"Will he be alright?"

"You broke protocol," the leader scolded, glaring down at the other without answering his question.

"I had to!" The reprimanded Galra's mask faded to reveal not the face of a Galra, but Keith's face.

"You didn't consider that something could've happened to you! That would make two men down instead of one!" The mask faded from the leader to reveal an enraged Kolivan. "Every member of the Blade of Marmora understands that the mission is more important than the individual—that's our code of honor. This isn't Voltron."

Keith looked off to the side, a fire flashing in his eyes at the mention of Voltron. He could've let it go; instead, he reached for the hard drive in his suit.

"I understand that! In Voltron, we would've gone back in to save Regris—I went back to save the mission. Regris had the intel—getting him and it back on the ship was worth the risk." He stated, handing Kolivan the hard drive as he walked past him, not bothering to look back to meet the lead Blade's cold, frustrated glare.

Kolivan balled his hand into a fist, emitting a low growl at Keith from behind.

*******

The Blade's escape pod rushed straight back to Voltron's base on planet Olkarion, where Keith made haste to the bridge of the Castle of Lions in his standard attire.

"Keith, good, you're back. The team's on a mission. You need to get to your lion and join them immediately," Shiro said. He was alone in the middle of the bridge, eyes scanning over miniature holograms of ships that were flying all around him—no doubt a model of the entire Dalterion Belt for him to keep track of.

"I will," Keith answered quickly, having not really heard Shiro. "but I think we just discovered a new form of quintessence. The readings are off the charts. Kolivan says it could be linked to Lotor."

This time, Shiro was the one who didn't seem to hear Keith, concentrating on the hologram cargo ships floating around him and moving them to suitable positions before crossing his arms. "Okay, we'll discuss it when you return. The team's escorting refugees out of the Fimm System."

"This is _Lotor_ I'm talking about!" Keith exclaimed, stepping forward, eyebrows furrowing in hopes of getting Shiro's attention. "He hasn't been seen in months, this might be our chance to track him down!"

Shiro side-eyed Keith, eyes narrowed. "I _said_ we'll discuss it later. Right now, I need you to focus on the mission at hand."

"But—"

"This isn't a request, Keith." Shiro turned to properly address him for the first time since he'd entered the room. "Get to the Fimm System—that's an order."

Keith's eyes ignited in much the same way they had earlier in his argument with Kolivan, but this time, Keith remained silent. After all, Shiro wasn't the same as Kolivan. He dipped his head in understanding.

*******

The Green, Yellow, and Red Lions were securing the travels of several refugee ships, claws hooked into the roofs so they could personally fly them safely. Much to their unpleasant surprise, the Black Lion showed up to guide the remaining ships.

"Well look who decided to show up," Pidge commented, speaking more to the others as opposed to directly addressing Keith. Hunk followed her example, propping his chin up and just focusing on the mission rather than their 'teammate'.

"Are you even taking this seriously?" Lance huffed, glancing back at Keith's lion in doubt.

Keith shrunk back a little, head bowed in apology even if none of them were looking at him. "Sorry I'm late…"

Naturally, he got no response.

*******

Once they made it back to Olkarion with the remainder of the refugee ships, Keith immediately made his way to Shiro as they overlooked the rest of the refugees and the paladins hard at work.

"Were you able to speak with Kolivan about the intel?" He asked, picking up right where they'd left off.

"I did," Shiro assured, "and we need to find out all we can about that quintessence. But more importantly…" He turned to Keith, brows furrowed in the physical embodiment of a sigh. "Voltron needs a strong leader."

Keith grimaced, briefly glancing at the Black Lion then back at Shiro. "I know they do...and it should be you."

"Keith, we've discussed this before. Besides, we both know that the Black Lion has chosen you." He reminded, lips curling up in a smile.

That wasn't enough to convince Keith, though, as he took a step towards Shiro. "You only tried once! You had a connection with the Black Lion and I know it's still there! If you just give it another shot—"

"Keith, we all have a part to play—this is mine now," Shiro declared, stepping back from Keith. "I've come to terms with that already. Now, you need to, too."

Keith's teeth clenched together, and his body tightened as Shiro sighed.

"I support your decision to continue with your Marmora training—but not at the expense of the team. They need you, Keith. They need you to be their leader."

Keith pursed his lips at Shiro's words. His expression didn't change.

His stance didn't change. It couldn't. After all…

...Shiro was asking for the impossible.

*******

In some distant, remote corner of the universe, a large base radiated with ancient energy, accompanied only by the ringing sounds of mechanics at work.

"Prince Lotor, it would appear the base in the Paglium Quadrant was infiltrated by the rebels. They no doubt have intel on the harvested quintessence by now." Acxa informed, crossing the cat walk behind Lotor as the prince himself gazed upon the work of dozens of sentries, all operating around the massive workings of a ship.

"As expected of Kolivan. Very well; set up a decoy cruiser in the rebel's quadrant. He won't be able to resist investigating an off-course ship in their territory."

Acxa bowed her head obediently, but when she stayed where she was, Lotor's eyes slitted slightly.

"Is there something else?"

She crossed her arm over her chest. "Yes, my Lord. News has it that Emperor Zarkon has awoken, and is nearing the end of the recovery process."

Lotor's ears perked at that, eyes falling shut as he exhaled deeply. Then, a sly grin slowly spread across his face. "That is news, indeed. It would seem the stage is finally set."

He turned abruptly, hair whipping about as he walked past Acxa with the comet work continuing behind them. "Contact Commander Oxal. Even the densest of Galra will understand that my father will not be pleased with any of them for showing me their support in his absence. His return spells trouble for many in the Empire," Lotor paused to glance at Acxa over his shoulder. "We shall strike against him first. Have the fleets begin the attack in the corners of the Dalterion Belt."

"The corners?" Acxa questioned, just for clarification.

Lotor smirked to himself. "Yes, that's right. That shall give my father a chance to respond to the attack. Only a coward who lacks a code of honor would ambush the heart of the empire without giving the enemy a chance to react." He looked up, eyes wide, as if he had been awaiting this moment for a long, long time. "We shall see who is truly fit to call himself 'Emperor'."

*******

The paladins were all gathered at the bridge, standing together in a clumped v-formation as Coran addressed them like the head of a flock.

"Okay, everybody! Today, we'll be heading to Reiphod—a planet recently liberated from Galra forces!"

"This is embarrassing," Keith muttered, all eyes falling onto him, "we're basically the grand marshal of a parade."

"Not a parade! A show of arms!" Coran quickly corrected him, making up for his lack of enthusiasm tenfold.

"Whatever it is, this is the second one of these we've done just this week." Pidge pointed out, sharing Keith's skepticism for once.

"I know it's not exactly battling the Galra, but believe it or not, these shows help us boost morale and strengthen alliances," Allura assured.

Lance stepped forward to take the spotlight, waving them off. "Right, right, stronghold, blah-dy, blah-dy, blah. Now I say we go over our lion choreography one more time. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time, _Hunk_." He glared pointedly at the yellow paladin, who rose his arms up in defense.

"Hey, it isn't my fault Coran choreographed the Yellow Lion to do so many headspins! I'm telling you Coran, that stuff is _way_ too overboard!"

"Shiro!" Their conversation was interrupted by Kolivan's voice as his face appeared on the large screen. "My apologies for interrupting, but this is an urgent matter. A Galra supply ship has been spotted passing through Quadrant Omega-Raylar-Six."

Shiro crossed his arms as they all turned to address the Blade leader. "What's it doing so far from the normal supply routes?"

"We can't be certain, but taken together with the fact that Lotor hasn't been seen in quite some time and the emergence of this new form of quintessence, we feel compelled to investigate. Normally, we would wait for better Intel, but I believe we should act on this while it's still within rebel territory."

"I'll send Voltron to intercept," Shiro offered.

"An infiltration mission makes more sense. We can hack the database and find out where it's been and where it's headed, but with all the Galra activity lately, my agents are spread thin."

"Not anymore. Count me in," Keith said confidently, directing all eyes back to him. Lance in particular looked upset as he stomped forward.

"Hey, what about our performance?! We can't razzle-dazzle the crowd with just four lions!"

"This mission is more important than a 'show of arms'. Shiro?"

They all turned to Shiro, who turned to Kolivan. "How long will it take?"

"Not long, but we must act fast before the ship can jump to hyperspace."

Shiro hesitated for as long as he could before turning to Keith. "Go. But when you're done, meet us on Reiphod."

Keith nodded as Lance stared at Shiro in disbelief.

*******

"Citizens of Reiphod!" Coran announced, microphone held far too close to his face as he extended an arm out to address the massive crowd that had shown up for the event. "On this day, we honor you for your perseverance—your refusal to bow down in the face of such adversity is a testament to the fighting spirit of your people! You've put aside your differences and united to dispel the oppressive Galra regime, bringing freedom to all!"

The crowd went wild for Coran's enthusiastic hype-work as Shiro stood off to Coran's side, watching the man go wild with arm gestures.

"We thank you for joining the coalition and continuing the fight against the Galra, that began with the reemergence of the five lions of Voltron!" He rose his arm skyward as four lions flew overhead, trailing their colors in glittering lights.

Coran looked about ready to carry on with the speech, but the sight of the four lions performing parallel choreography without a center had him sweating. "Right, uh, _four_ lions!" He laughed nervously.

Lance growled from inside the Red Lion, lines straining beneath his eyes. "I thought Keith said he was gonna be here. He's going to ruin our show!"

"Lance, this isn't just about putting on a good show. It's about uniting people and bringing them to the coalition to help in the fight against Zarkon." Allura reminded.

He looked up as she talked, clearly not happy with her logical response as he grumbled with extra sass. "...fine. I don't even know why I try." He snapped his mouth shut as the lions continued their choreography for the crowd—just the four of them.

*******

Meanwhile, the Galra supply ship in Quadrant Omega-Raylar-Six had just been spotted by Keith, Kolivan, and Regris, who were all diving from their ship from above in full Blade uniform.

"Triangulate positions around the ship," Kolivan ordered, heading straight forward while Keith and Regris used the suit's jetpacks to collapse on separate sides.

Keith immediately attached his biorhythm detector against the ship as soon as he landed against it, watching the screen that appeared closely. "...I'm not detecting any biorhythms."

"Could be a crew of sentries," Kolivan suggested. "Let's get in and find out."

*******

They scanned the inside on foot in a hurry before quickly meeting up in the center of the ship.

"I completed the sentry scan—there are none on board," Regris reported.

"The entire place is empty. Have you ever seen this before?" Keith asked.

Kolivan seemed to take a moment to think to himself. "...something's not right here. We should leave."

"We came all this way! We should at least hack into the database and find out this ship's route!" Keith argued, unwilling to leave without making some sort of progress from this mission.

They didn't have time to hesitate as Kolivan gave a curt yet hesitant nod. "Fine. Let's make it quick."

They rushed to the ship's database, where Regris immediately ran ahead.

"I'll check the logs."

Keith followed suit. "Planting the tracker."

Regris quickly brought up the database, but after just a few touches to the keyboard, the entire room went red, and the door they'd entered through shut on them.

"I'm locked out of the system!" He hissed.

Kolivan immediately pulled out his blade, slashing against the cracks in the door. "It's rigged to blow! This ships a decoy—everyone out!"

Keith was immediately at the leader's side, jamming their knives into the cracks to try and pry the door open as Regris typed at the database hastily.

"Attempting to override."

The doors began parting open as Keith grunted with effort, turning to watch Regris, who refused to move from the database.

"There's not enough time! Come on!" He shouted as the doors opened just enough for them to fit through. Still, Regris stood by the database in hyperfocus.

"Just a few more ticks…!"

Keith rushed forward to pull Regris out, just as he had before, but Kolivan grabbed him and dashed through the exit, leaving the tailed-Galra behind.

Adrenaline burst through Keith's body as he reached forward, voice straining in desperation as he reached out with both arms. "Regris, no!"

He saw the explosion before he heard it; he saw the white flames envelop Regris.

*******

Countless explosions rang out through the stadium as the lions displayed their tricks over the crowd by shooting lasers through hologram diamonds, sparkles and confetti flying everywhere as the crowd cheered and Coran spoke with enthusiasm.

"By joining the Voltron Alliance, you are joining up with the Defenders of the Universe, who will do whatever it takes to spread peace and freedom to every galaxy!"

Reiphod roared with excitement as the lions spun in formation into the sky.

*******

Keith's ears roared with the rush of his own blood as he spun into the endless void of space, ship debris flanking him from every side as he desperately fought to stay conscious.

"Hello? Kolivan? Anyone?!" He shouted, straining his ears against the static of his broken communicator.

The sound of air hissing brought his attention to a tear in his suit, which he quickly covered with his hand to stop space's atmosphere from destroying his skin.

With only one hand left to work with, he grabbed his knife and threw it with a grunt, pulling against the string attached to the handle as it connected to a piece of debris to drag himself forward.

He could feel himself losing air despite blocking the opening in his suit, desperation at an all time high as he clumsily wrapped his arm around a piece of nearby debris to stabilize his landing; his body had little control over itself as he floated through space.

*******

The lion's were in perfect control and sync as they swerved into the air, still trailing that colorful glitter that made the citizens of Reiphod roar in excitement. None matched Lance's own excitement though as he leaned back in Red's cockpit with a wide grin.

"They're loving us! Razzle-dazzle!"

The lions continued flying in perfect unity, side by side in formation, leaving not a single one on its own.

*******

Keith was completely on his own, scanning through all the debris around him for some semblance of hope. His strained panting was the most he could focus on, and his vision was getting blurry, but somehow he managed to spot the ship they'd arrived in just a few yards to the left.

His heart leapt into his throat as he glanced down at the hand covering the tear in his suit. Then, mind made up, he pushed off the debris he was holding onto with all his might, flinging himself forward towards the ship as air hissed through his exposed suit.

He latched onto debris after debris, using each as a launching platform in an attempt to reach the ship before it could take off—or before his suit failed him.

He managed to jump off of a few pieces of debris before his body lost control, tumbling clumsily into broken ship pieces as he grunted and gasped and fluctuated between hope and despair until—

The doors to the ship closed.

Keith just barely slipped inside.

As soon as he had the oxygen provided in the ship, air stopped hissing from his torn suit, and his mask faded to reveal his panicked face, gasping, coughing, and sputtering for air as sweat dripped down his forehead like rain.

He looked up at Kolivan, wide-eyed, before foolishly glancing around the ship for Regris.

Kolivan stared at him pointedly, eyes taking the form of daggers even with the mask still on.

Keith let his face fall, eyes screwed shut as the ship took off with one less Galra than it had started out with.

*******

Confetti of four different colors was scattered all throughout the stadium now as Coran rose his arms animatedly on stage to mirror the cheers of the crowd.

"And just as Voltron has shown what can be done when five individuals combine their powers together, so too can we combine our powers with those on Planet Reiphod and grow ever stronger! For it is the individual willing to take up arms that strengthens the whole—and with that strength, we will be unstoppable!"

The Reiphod citizens cheered even louder at the end of his speech as Coran beamed, lowering the microphone and preparing to take a bow. "Now cue Voltron with sword, and…"

...all noise died down as the four lions floated in mid-air in front of them with no choreography left to follow.

Shiro's smile which had been growing throughout the performance immediately faded as Coran flinched back, sweating.

"Ah, quiznak! Only four lions...I keep forgetting that…" He cleared his throat. "Uh, well, when he's together, he's like a big man! Like this!" He tried imitating robot lion arms and legs, walking around on the stage like a robot man would. "But you have to imagine it with a sword and a big laser cannon! Hya! Hya! Bweew!" He mimicked sword and laser gun sounds, pausing for a moment. "Uh, well, it doesn't exactly sound like that, but um…"

Coran trailed off as the Reiphod citizens just stared at him and the lions as if they had been totally tricked, and even the mustached advisor seemed to understand when the tides had turned.

"...quiznak." He groaned to himself.

Meanwhile, Shiro's neutral face just grew more and more tense as he stared up at the four lions.

The crowd was clearly unimpressed; Shiro could relate.

*******

The return to planet Olkarion was bittersweet for Keith as he entered the Castle of Lions. The hood of his Marmora uniform was up—a reminder of his failure today as he headed towards his room. As soon as the doors to the hallway slid open for him, however, he came face to face with Allura herself.

She'd been waiting for him, knowing he'd go directly to his room—that was the only explanation. He immediately knew what he was in for, sighing.

"Allura, I know you're mad at me, but I'm not in the mood for a lecture."

The princess's face remained neutral, but she let her arms relax at her sides. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I heard what happened on your mission."

"...thanks." He stared her down warily.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "I know how important the work you've been doing with the Blades is. They are incredible allies, and have been instrumental in our victories over the Galra. And while the news of a new quintessence supply line is deeply troubling, I cannot help but feel—"

"I said, I didn't want a lecture," Keith interrupted, discarding of his hood. He didn't need to hear what he already knew.

Allura's eyes narrowed. "...Keith. Since our battle with Zarkon, we've been able to bolster our forces by uniting those previously ruled by the Galra under a common symbol; Voltron. It's so much more than a weapon. It's become a symbol of freedom and hope for the oppressed to rally around."

He avoided eye contact, keeping silent for Allura's sake as she continued.

"I suppose what I'm trying to say is, the Marmora can go on without you—they have for thousands of years. Voltron cannot." She walked past him with a wistful tone to her voice, fists tight. " _We_ cannot."

Her footsteps echoed into the distance, and Keith just waited for her to be gone, eyes falling shut with a sigh. She and Shiro were right; Voltron needed a leader. They needed a _real_ leader.

Keith understood that better than any of them.

*******

Days dragged on as Voltron continued reaching out to refugee forces across the universe; 'Voltron' being the four lions. The additional supplies along with the natural affinity for building that the Olkari possessed meant that progress occurred at an accelerated rate, and within days the rebel headquarters was ten times as massive as before, with hospitals and safehouses dotting the planet.

But while the lions focused on escort missions, Keith and the Blade of Marmora, along with the rebel's leader Captain Olia, studied the puzzling routes of the Galra quintessence shipments, infiltrating and setting explosives and doing whatever they could to thwart the enemy supply lines while gaining information.

One mission after the other, explosion after explosion; there was no such thing as 'rest' for Keith as he worked ceaselessly to be useful to the universe.

The paladins were expanding their base on Olkarion just fine without him; he was helping the universe more through these missions. At least, that's what he told himself, and that was the most he spent thinking about it. Voltron was pushed to the back of his mind as he focused on the missions given to him by Kolivan.

Whenever he wasn't on a mission, however, he did let his mind wander to the only thing worth thinking about in his free time. Sometimes, he even went to visit them before a mission. He was never the superstitious type, but getting to see them before each mission helped to keep the fire inside him going; so long as they never saw him back. As far as he was concerned, they never did.

It was always the same thing: Shiro would be standing at the head of the other paladins, shouting orders and delivering all the speeches in all the right ways like only he could. Naturally, the other paladins fell into line with him immediately, passing food and medical supplies out to the eager refugees now inhabiting planet Olkarion.

It was a team effort, and watching them work together helped cement in Keith's heart that 'the loner' wasn't supposed to be there. It was comforting, in a way.

He donned his mask and faded into the crowd, not noticing Allura looking on after him in worry. It wouldn't have made a difference either way. He already understood his place, and he knew Shiro had been visiting the Black Lion recently out of frustration. That made Keith...

_One paladin too many._

*******

While disaster brewed in Keith's head, it struck the castle just as hard in the form of blaring alarms, immediately bringing the paladins to the bridge.

"What's going on?" Allura questioned.

Coran was hunched over the castle's receiver, typing at the screen frantically. "We received a distress signal! One of our convoys has been ambushed by a squadron of Galra cruisers!"

"Our supply ships…" Shiro clenched his fists, looking up. "We can't let the Galra get those ships."

"Voltron can keep those cruisers occupied long enough for the supply ships to make their escape," Allura suggested, only for Pidge to quickly interject.

"Actually, Voltron _can't_. Keith is gone."

"They must be on a mission. I knew this would happen sooner or later…" Shiro grumbled, fists tightening harder as he looked down in thought. "You'll have to go without Keith. The convoy needs you immediately; I'll send him as soon as I find him. Go." Shiro gave his command as the other four ran off with distress ridden upon their faces.

By the time the lions reached the scene of the ambush, the supply ships were already under fire, with tractor beams sucking them in for the weapons aboard the cargo ships.

"We gotta get that ship out of the tractor beam! Hunk!" Lance yelled, hanging back a bit as the Yellow Lion surged forward.

"I'll try to ram it out!" He agreed, eyes zeroed in on the ship in the tractor beam, only for a nervous shout to escape him as countless Galra fighter ships suddenly launched from the cruiser. "Never mind! There's too many! I can't ram that many!"

He maneuvered in a loop-de-loop through the air to reconvene with the other lions, only for several more Galra cruisers to suddenly exit hyperspace and block off their path. Hunk's shouting continued.

"There's too many! Someone must've called for backup!"

The ships began shooting at the lions, and from there it was all a mess of gunfire and static and desperate voices as Shiro and Coran watched from the castle ship, completely helpless as the sheer number of Galra forces overwhelmed the supply ships and the poor four lions.

Both sideliners had looks of pure horror on their faces, but Shiro was quick to bite his lower lip in frustration. He'd been waiting for this, simply because he'd known it would happen sooner or later.

"What're you doing?" Coran managed to raise his eyebrow despite the one-sided carnage displayed on screen as Shiro walked past him, shoulders stiff and eyes strained.

"Whatever I can."

He marched straight into the Black Lion's hangar, black paladin suit and helmet fully equipped. Her particle barrier was down—proof that she wasn't actively shutting him out.

Several deep breaths wracked through his body from both the adrenaline of the dire situation and his own frustration as he made his way inside through her underbelly and slid into the cockpit. The familiar controls were all there in front of him, but Black was lifeless.

He admittedly didn't have high hopes—she'd rejected him every time he'd tried, after all—but desperation was powering his muscles as he reached for the controls, eyes shut in focus.

No matter how much he tried focusing on connecting with the lion, however, he could only focus on the panicked cries of his teammates through the helmet, teeth gritting together harder as they grew more desperate.

"I take out one but two more replace it!"

"The supply ship is almost captured! Do the rebels have a shot?"

"I have a visual on them—they're dead in the water!"

"We can't do this without Voltron!"

"Where is Keith?!"

Shiro squeezed the controls, eyes shut tightly, at a loss for what to do.

"Please…people's lives are at stake…!"

The paladins' screams and cries continued sounding from his helmet.

"You trusted me once…" They needed him. They needed Voltron. "Trust me again…"

His chest began clogging up in defeat...only for the controls to suddenly start revving to life, purple lighting filling up the cockpit as Shiro looked all around him in disbelief. The screens flickered a few times before coming online, and Black's eyes lit up before she gave a mighty roar for Shiro...for her fellow lions.

*******

The battlefield was utter chaos; the lions were all but separated amidst all the fighter ships and Galra cruisers, and it was impossible to focus on protecting themselves and the supply ships at the same time.

Hunk groaned as the Yellow Lion took a blast that cause his cockpit to shake despite his lion's heavy armor. "There's no way we can beat all these fighters with only four lions!"

A light in the distance came zooming towards them—Shiro himself.

"You won't have to!"

The other paladins all chorused his name in pleasant shock, watching in awe and admiration as their leader sliced past a massive fleet of ships that had been chasing Hunk. There wasn't time to just gawk right now though as the Black Lion circled back towards them.

"Converge on me! It's time to form Voltron!"

They did exactly as told, circling up around the Black Lion as Voltron formed, fitting in Lance and Pidge as Shiro's arms and Allura and Hunk as his legs; a new Voltron formation.

They wasted no time, coming down from the sky just to crash through multiple Galra cruisers, tearing holes through the hulls and effortlessly plowing through ship after ship, each explosion grander than the last.

For the first time in a long time, the lions and the paladins felt unstoppable as one-third of the fleet went down without fight, and when Shiro ordered Hunk to pull the shoulder cannon out, the 'fight' was over, left as nothing more than a demonstration of Voltron's power.

"Rebel craft! You're safe now!" Shiro announced as Voltron flew just beside the main supply ship, accompanied by whatever other ships still remained. "We'll escort you the rest of the way to Olkarion!"

*******

Keith put off entering the bridge of the castle for as long as he could, trying to prepare himself for what was coming. There was no way he could've prepared himself for what he got, though, as he walked in, expecting them to just ignore him.

"Guys, I…"

Contrary to his expectations, they weren't ignoring him; they were staring at him. Glowering at him. _Judging him._

"...I heard what happened…" He avoided meeting their eyes—the only way he could make words come out. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help—"

"You keep saying you're sorry but your actions say otherwise. Do you realize that your absence put the team in jeopardy?" Allura reprimanded, yanking Keith's attention back to them with wide eyes as Lance took a step forward.

"And not just the team, the refugees as well!"

"As a matter of fact, the entire _quadrant_ was in danger." Pidge elaborated, rubbing salt into the wound as Keith quickly dropped his gaze to the floor again. They were just glaring at him, waiting for him to try and excuse himself.

"...this is not the way I wanted this to happen, but...if there's a bright side to any of this, it's that my absence allowed Shiro to reestablish his bond with the Black Lion. He can finally be the leader I was unable to be."

The team's eyes began widening as Keith's voice neared the point of shaking; he kept it under control though as he looked up at Shiro. "I'm not meant to pilot the Black Lion…"

"Is that why you've been pulling away?" Allura asked, dropping her crossed arms with softer eyes.

Keith's face just drooped more. "...yeah. I suppose that's part of it."

There was a small wave of silence as the team tried to piece together everything he was saying. Hunk was the one who pushed for more info first.

"'Part of it'? What's the other part?"

Keith bit down on his tongue, pushing away the memory of them looking at him with eyes of pure _rejection_ just seconds earlier, and thus pushing the truth away along with it. An excuse would have to do.

"...the Blades have been making headway tracking the source of this new quintessence. They've been able to piece together a large network of hidden supply lines that have been secretly transporting it for...who knows how long. And there's good reason to believe it could lead us directly to Lotor. A mission is being planned to infiltrate the supply line. It could take weeks...maybe months to pull off, but…if there is a chance, we have—!" The others were all looking down, already knowing where this was going as Keith clenched his fists. " _I_ have to take it. I need to be on that mission."

In contrast to their earlier glares, everyone was frowning now much the same as Keith had been, and it only weighed down on his heart too—but he had to do this.

"Shiro. You are the rightful leader of this team, and you proved it today by reconnecting with the Black Lion. It was always meant to be yours…"

His eyes fell again, only for him to perk up in surprise when Shiro walked forward to place a hand on his shoulder.

"Keith. If this is what you feel is right...then we won't try to stop you," he assured, giving a slight nod to show that his earlier frustration was gone. "Just know that we're here for you whenever you need us."

Shock stiffened Keith's body; he couldn't believe how quickly his decision to leave was accepted. He couldn't discern how to feel. He smiled anyways—for Shiro.

"I know you are...and I can't tell you how much that means to me." They clasped hands before pulling each other into a tight hug.

It took about two seconds before tears began flooding from Hunk's eyes just from watching their exchange, the yellow paladin expressing the feelings of everyone else in the room for them as per usual.

"I can't be left out of this!" He declared, and one after the other, they all rushed forward after Hunk to join Keith and Shiro's hug until they were one huge clump.

Keith's smile spread wider until it was genuine, and even though he was suddenly being squished by six other bodies, he'd never been more thankful for an uncomfortable amount of physical affection as they each cried in some way, be it through physical tears or forced smiles.

"We're really gonna miss you!" Pidge insisted, voice strained with tears in her eyes just like Hunk.

Lance ruffled Keith's hair with a half-hearted snicker. "Yeah. Who am I gonna make fun of?"

"I know you'll make us proud," Allura said confidently.

Keith's heart throbbed and numbed with every word from each of them as they held the messy hug for a good ten seconds, none of them willing to let Keith go until Shiro made them.

The sliding door opened for him as he glanced over his shoulder at his family one last time—Coran was wiping his snot, Pidge and Allura watching from the background as Shiro nodded to him, and Lance held a crying Hunk.

He managed to keep his smile just by looking at them...but it disappeared as soon as he was facing the door.

Then, without another word, Keith left the bridge and the paladins of Voltron behind him.

They each cried in some way.

Keith was no exception.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't change too much, but there'll still be an analysis of what I did change and what the reasons were. You don't have to read those, though.
> 
> **Wanna keep up with my writing, or do you just want to interact with me and ask questions and read my Voltron-related content? Follow me on Tumblr at the link below! I would LOVE to mingle with you all!**
> 
> <https://charlaxoyates.tumblr.com/>


	3. "Code of Honor" Rewrite Analysis

As I've said before, this episode is the one that had the least amount of changes made to it. However, there were a few changes, along with some added details that I'd like to draw attention to to give some deeper analysis into what my intentions were behind certain things in this episode.

-The opening scene remains exactly the same, simply because it's important to show the Galra transporting quintessence, and it makes for a good opener to transition to the Blades. One detail I'd like to point out here, though, is the way Keith has no problems speaking up against Kolivan (ex. "Keith looked off to the side, a fire flashing in his eyes at the mention of Voltron. He could’ve let it go; instead, he reached for the hard drive in his suit."), but when it comes to speaking against Shiro, he can't do it (ex. "Keith’s eyes ignited in much the same way they had earlier in his argument with Kolivan, but this time, Keith remained silent. After all, Shiro wasn’t the same as Kolivan."). Keith continues to defer to Shiro because he's used to it; he doesn't defer to Kolivan in the same way. Especially when he disagrees with Kolivan's and the BOM's "code of honor".

-The only scene I really changed was Lotor's scene, which got reworked _completely_. In the show, he has this useless conversation with Haggar in which he flaunts about how he's the one in control of the Empire (but two episodes later he doesn't even care about staying in control...yeah, what even is Lotor's character). So instead, I had him and Acxa talk about the rebels, and we witness him telling her to set up a false supply ship in the rebel's territory, which as we know, ends up getting Regris killed. By the way, the only reason they knew the Blades were onto them was because Keith got them caught in the opening scene on that infiltration mission. Keith indirectly caused Regris's death. He's also the one who wanted to check out the ship even after Kolivan said something was wrong, which also contributed to Regris dying. You bet the poor boy is beating himself up over Regris's death. Let the angst flow through you.

-They then mention Zarkon's recovery coming to an end, and Lotor reveals _his_ code of honor, which isn't really a code of honor at all. The only reason he wants Zarkon to have a fighting chance is because he has his entire future planned out. He wants to win the Empire and he wants to do it his way, the way he's always imagined it, and he's always imagined winning a fight against Zarkon as opposed to just taking the Empire while Zarkon was weakened. The damn perfectionist needs everything to go exactly how he's always planned it.

-As for the reason he's getting support, he states that, "Even the densest of Galra will understand that my father will not be pleased with any of them for showing me their support in his absence". He's using fear to ensure that Galra soldiers will side with him—not so different from his father, eh. Additionally, the only reason he's able to manipulate them this way is because he knows his father, and he knows his father will be enraged at anyone for supporting Lotor in his absence. In other words, Lotor is aware of how much his father hates him and is using that to his advantage. Poor boy...what a dysfunctional father-son duo.

-The rest of the episode is pretty much the exact same as the actual one. Lance in particular is upset about Keith never being around 'for the performances', as we see when he calls him out when Kolivan initially calls for backup and then calls him out again when they're performing and he doesn't show up, which Allura quickly reprimands him for.

-One of the reasons this episode was so good was because of the beautiful juxtaposition between the lion's performing on Reiphod and Keith's BOM mission, where one is all colorful and happy and excitable while the other is all suspenseful and dramatic and tense. Seriously, if you don't remember the fantastic scene switching and juxtaposition of these scenes, and if reading it in my writing didn't give you chills, go rewatch the episode. The scene transitions in those parts were sooooo chilling. In an attempt to mirror how incredible those transitions were, I attempted to juxtapose the scenes by using similar wording at the end and beginning of each scene.

Ex. "Reiphod roared with excitement as the lions spun in formation into the sky". Right after this line, I transition with, "Keith’s ears roared with the rush of his own blood". The use of the word 'roared' in both sentences helps juxtapose the scenes in the transition to mirror how they did it in the show. 

Another ex. "his body had little control over itself as he floated through space". This is immediately followed by, "The lion’s were in perfect control and sync as they swerved into the air". In this case, the word "control" juxtaposes the two scenes in the transition. These are the only two times it does this, though, I believe. The show only did it twice, too, but wow is it such a beautiful scene when you watch it, and I hope I did it some justice by using the word play that I used.

-I almost cut out the scene where Allura confronts him by herself simply because I didn't see what it contributed to the story. I didn't really understand why they chose Allura to randomly confront him, but now I think I do see some use for it. I think the point of this scene was to show that Allura alone couldn't convince Keith to stay with Voltron. Someone else will have to do it, if not just all of them confronting him together in a more helpful manner. Due to this, I think it is a very important scene to show and thus I decided to keep it in.

-I changed the scene where Allura sees Keith leaving with the Blade while they're handing out supplies to be in Keith's POV instead. Keith continuously watches Shiro being a leader, and he doesn't think he can ever live up to it, which is a big part of why he pulls away so much.

-In the final scene, when Hunk asks Keith why else he was pulling away other than just the whole leader-complex ordeal, I noted that Keith decided not to tell them the truth and instead makes an 'excuse' about leaving on a long mission. The truth was that he rejects people before they reject him because he's afraid of letting people get close to him; that's why he was pulling away from the group. His paladin vlog literally says this, like, word for word. So that's the truth, he just decides not to say it to them because he doesn't want to open up about it—especially since they were just staring at him with such judging eyes a tick ago.

-I'll be honest, I wanted to just get rid of Regris because his character serves zero purpose, just like 95% of the Blade of Marmora, but I love the lizard boy, so I kept him just to kill him off. Rip. Regris deserved better, honestly.

Alright, those are all the details, additions and changes I made to Voltron Season 4 Episode 1: Code of Honor. By the way, in case you didn't catch it yet, the title refers to the Blade of Marmora's "code of honor", which Kolivan quotes at one point (I added this, the actual episode never really even tries to explain this title). Lotor also quotes that he has a code of honor, so yeah, that's where the title comes from. Anyways, the end of this episode where Keith leaves is super sad and nothing much really changed in this rewrite of mine.

Next time, Voltron Season 4 Episode 2: Reunion.


	4. Episode 2: Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge gets information that prompts her to embark on an important solo mission to the far reaches of the universe; little does she know, she herself is being tracked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is; "Reunion", AKA "Pidge Alone", AKA, "does Matt survive or not?" Well...guess there's only one way to figure that out...

_"Photons from the visible spectrum are manipulated, creating a quantum storage network. It's the most advanced storage system available."_

_That was all Pidge needed to hear before she turned in her seat with an enthusiastic grin. "Actually, the Galaxy Garrison is performing tests using DNA helixes as storage. That's the same way genetic information is stored in our bodies!"_

_She eagerly waited for a response from her teacher, only for one of her many classmates who were staring to scoff with an unimpressed, "nerd"._

_The rest of the class fell into chattery laughter as the teacher sighed, having seen this scene one too many times._

_Pidge had seen it one too many times, too. She averted her gaze, shrinking into herself and fighting against the tears that threatened to spill over while her teeth clenched, the constant laughter from reminding her why she hated her school so much._

*******

_The first thing she did upon returning to her room was toss her school books against the wall with a frustrated yell, steam coming off of her as she collapsed in her desk chair and clutched her head with enough force to tear at her hair. They didn't understand her, her_ teacher _didn't even understand her._

_Nobody understood her._

_"Hey Pidge?"_

_She hadn't even hear the door open, but she didn't need to look to know who it was. She should've expected him._

_"...I hate it when you call me that," she snapped._

_"Sorry, 'Katie'." Matt shut the door behind him and walked a slice of strawberry shortcake over to her. "Mom told me what happened today." He leaned against her desk with a sigh. "I know what it's like to be the nerd, but you've got to keep studying hard."_

_"What's the point?" She exasperated, kneading her feet together beneath the desk._

_Matt looked at the ceiling casually. "Well, it was my brain that got me into the Galaxy Garrison."_

_Her eyes immediately flashed open at Matt, and just like magic, all of her frustration was suddenly forgotten in place of excitement. She became a bouncing ball of energy, gasping and jumping out of her chair with a wide smile to wrap her arms around her brother's neck._

_"You got in?! Yes!" She could hardly believe it—they'd been waiting for his results for so long!_

_"I guess it was my brains. Could've been my good looks or my_ big _muscles."_

_She giggled, pointedly ignoring that last part before hopping back to beam at him. "That's amazing! Oh man, I'm so excited, I—!" She cut herself off with a gasp, as if an epiphany had just struck her. Then, she grabbed a book off the floor and settled down at her desk to open it as Matt watched on with a raised eyebrow._

_"What're you doing?"_

_"Studying!" She exclaimed, as if it were obvious. "So I can get into the Garrison with you and dad!"_

_Matt couldn't stop a small smile from spreading across his face as he watched inspiration spark his little sister into action. He knew how she could be when she was determined—nothing would stop her._

*******

Pidge removed her glasses, a wave of nostalgia hitting her just from looking at them before she equipped her helmet. The memories only fueled her determination—she wouldn't let anything stop her.

"Pidge, I don't like the idea of you going alone. You sure you don't need backup?" Shiro checked in for the upteenth time.

"I'm sure. The supply ship we rescued the other day was carrying the explosives, and they said the shop they got it from could pull out of their current location at any time. There's still plenty left that we have to do on Olkarion, but I need to act fast. This could be my only chance."

"You're right. We'll hold up without you; good luck!"

She nodded before turning off the comms and speeding through the darkness of space in the Green Lion towards the outskirts of the Dalterion Belt, where the coordinates were.

*******

The facility in the slums area was one of the sketchiest places Pidge had ever seen in the entirety of the universe. She threw a cloak over her paladin armor just for extra security before trekking through the highly advanced streets, ignoring the floating eye cams all around her and referring to her map until it lead her to the back entrance of the shop.

Her heart was pounding against her chest plate as she walked in and saw rows of dark shelves with less-than-safe products displayed. She wasn't afraid, though—she was anxious, sure, but her goal was all that mattered.

Suspicious clanking noises sounded throughout the shop despite the lack of commotion, and she kept her eyes peeled just in case something leapt out at her from the dense darkness. The glasses she wore didn't grant her any improved vision in the dark by any means, but they did feed her confidence.

She knew she'd reached her destination when she saw the Unilu shopkeeper leaning back behind his desk.

"Shop's closed," he informed, as if this wasn't the first time he had to shut someone down.

"I'm just looking for a show. I've heard it's explosive." Pidge recited the code that the rebels had given her while approaching slowly, smirking as the Unilu man rose an eyebrow.

"So you're after the nano-thermite titanium-boron, huh? Very expensive stuff. Difficult to procure, I assure you."

"Not quite." She moved the front part of her cloak away to reveal her green paladin armor, pulling up a screen from the back of her wrist. "I don't need the explosives. Just tell me who is in this video and where to find them."

She played the video of Matt's escape that she'd retrieved from Beta Traz for the Unilu, focusing in on the rebel's masked face.

"Why would I know those people?" He rose an eyebrow, but he wasn't fooling Pidge.

"Because they use nano-thermite titanium-boron, and you're the only one in this section of the galaxy supplying it to the rebels." She removed her cloak completely. "I'm Pidge, a paladin of Voltron. I'm looking for somebody, and I need you to give me the rebel's coordinates."

He looked her over once or twice before scoffing. "No rebel transponder means no dice. Anybody can come in here with a disguise and demand rebel locations. I suggest you leave _right now_!" He stood up and pulled out two swords from their sheaths on his waist, pointing them directly at Pidge as she groaned.

"Really? This is how we're doing it? I have the Green Lion if that's identification enough for—"

He didn't let her finish as he jumped towards her, swords spinning, but she was more than ready for his attack. The shopkeeper was only trying to protect the rebel information, so she simply kicked the desk from beneath him to upset his balance so as not to hurt him too much. When he insisted on getting up for a second attack, though, she shot her bayard just past him, yanking it back and knocking him over the head with one of his own toolboxes, and down he went.

"Nothing personal." She sighed, crouching down by him as he groaned in pain. It wasn't exactly orthodox to go around attacking rebel suppliers, but he had attacked first, and she wasn't in the mood for so much resistance as she downloaded the rebel information while he was still coming to.

"I'm not an imposter, I swear. Thanks for the intel, anyways." She turned to leave as the Unilu glared after her.

It was a mistake not to grab her cloak on her way out, though. Her paladin armor was on display for the entire slums to see as she walked back to where she'd parked the Green Lion, a pair of eyes following after her, toothy grin glinting in the darkness.

A massive, eerie man stepped just barely out of the shadows to watch her leave, letting out a soft yet heavy chuckle as a cloak covered his body, and his face.

Beneath the cloak, however, a single reddish-orange sphere glowed—his eye.

*******

She immediately began scanning through the downloaded intel, lining it alongside Matt's video as she exited the planet. It didn't take long for her screen to connect the rebel from the video with an identical face from the Unilu supplier's list of rebels.

"Looks like I've got a positive ID. 'Te-osh'. Last known whereabouts...secret base 1904—Kraydah's moon."

The rebel base was well hidden in space debris, but it wasn't far from her current location—especially not with the speed she was traveling at.

*******

She expected to have to navigate through fragmented chunks of rock as soon as she approached the base; instead, she was met with the flashing lights of explosions as several Galra cruisers came into view.

"Oh no...it's a Galra attack!" Her heart plummeted as she shoved Green's controls forward, blasting through any fighter ships that came her way. To her astonishment, however, none of the fire from the cruisers turned to focus on her; collateral damage was her only foe as she spiralled around fighter ships and watched the impractical chaos ensue.

"...where are the rebel ships? The Galra aren't attacking anything."

Her first thought was that they had already decimated the entire rebel base, and, in a spur of panic, she quickly bolted for Kraydah's moon, ignoring the cruisers so long as they ignored her.

Relief was only rivaled by confusion as the rebel base came into view below. It wasn't completely undamaged, but there were still several cargo ships loaded with medical supplies and refugees. There was no conflict with the Galra cruisers whatsoever.

A tall alien man gazed in awe of her lion as she came in for her landing, running forward to receive her.

"That must be one of the freedom fighters." Her eyes narrowed as Green let her down just as the man reached her.

"Greetings, I am lieutenant Ozar. You must be one of the paladins?"

"Yes, I'm Pidge. What's going on? Are you under attack from the Galra?"

Ozar shook his head, following Pidge's gaze to the sky in confusion. "I'm not exactly sure. The Galra cruisers seem to be locked in combat against each other. It'd be safest to move our supplies to another location, but it's impossible to leave the atmosphere without getting caught in the crossfire. Will the other lions be joining you?"

Pidge pondered his observation for a few moments while shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Voltron isn't coming, it's just me." The Green Lion alone would probably be enough. If the Galra were fighting amongst themselves for some reason, then all she needed to do was escort the cargo ships, meaning there was time for a quick detour. "I'm looking for Te-osh. Is she here?"

The lieutenant pointed at the cargo ship sitting on top of the base's storage house. "Te-osh is inside that ship loading up the last of the medical supplies. We were just about to leave; your timing is most fortunate."

She eagerly began inching around him with a curt nod. "Thank you. I'll give you a hand loading up and help secure your escape; I just need to speak with her first."

"Thank you, paladin Pidge." He nodded back, but she barely paid it any mind as she quickly began running to the cargo ship Te-osh was currently loading, heart racing. This was it—she was finally taking what could be the largest step in her mission to find Matt.

She was about to power her jetpack to speed up to the cargo ship when the dead air suddenly seemed to scream in tension. Her natural instinct kicked in, sensing the threat before she even saw or heard it. Lasers came crashing around Te-osh's ship, and the explosions flourished in Pidge's horrified eyes as debris came crashing around her.

"NO!" She cried out, equipping her shield to protect herself from the falling rocks. The collateral damage still sent her plummeting backwards in a series of tumbles, but she was quick to scramble back to her feet to peer through the broken base for any signs of Te-osh.

"They're attacking!" Ozar exclaimed, running towards his cargo ship with a gun in hand as the other rebels scattered around the crumbling storage house.

Pidge couldn't settle between horror and rage as she watched Galra fighter ships descend from the thick clouds, shooting more lasers at the base as soon as Te-osh's ship appeared amidst the explosion. The cargo ship was forced to take flight, engines charging with difficulty before the ship fled over Pidge's head, with Te-osh in it.

"Te-osh!" Pidge chased after the ship overhead towards her lion, the sound of lasers behind her dulled out by her own blood rushing in her ears. Had the circumstances been different, she would've thrown herself down in frustration at her own short-sightedness. She never should've bargained on the Galra _not_ attacking them—of course there hadn't been time for her to delay their escape.

Her bayard shot at her lion, connecting her to its under jaw and pulling her towards it. A fighter ship shot at her from behind, racing with physics to reach her before she reached her lion, but her bayard pulled her close enough for Green to strain her neck forward and capture Pidge in her mouth, growling protectively as the missile struck her in the face. The resulting blow left Pidge gasping and stumbling in the cockpit, clutching onto the back of her seat for footing as her lungs surged.

"You're really, _really_ gonna regret that!" She jumped into her seat and was quick to turn Green around while dodging several bullets, waiting for another fighter to stray too close before leaping and tearing it out of the sky with Green's jaws.

Just when she started to shoot down more ships and regain her momentum, more Galra fighters appeared from behind, shooting the rebel cargo ships and rendering them completely useless.

"Oh no!" Pidge turned with exasperation, shooting at the incoming ships until Green was twisting in every direction to fight off all the sudden attacks. The fleet was small and incomplete, though, and she quickly managed to fend them all off.

"Is everyone okay?!"

Ozar, who had been shooting at the ships, came forward with a party of other armed rebels, head hung low. "For now, thanks to you. We are safe, but our ships are damaged. We are stranded and cannot help Te-osh. Please, paladin Pidge! You must help her!"

Her eyes widened as she stared at the sullen freedom fighters. "But...what about you—"

"The supplies on that ship are more important than our lives!" Ozar interjected. "Besides, we all know what it means to fight the Galra."

Pidge's chest tightened at their implications, eyes traveling from them to their damaged ships to the sky, where Te-osh had escaped to with more fighters on her tail. There was no time to loiter…

She growled to herself, teeth clenched as tightly as her fists. "Everyone aboard! Now!"

They were in luck; Kraydah's moon was a reserved rebel base, meaning there weren't too many refugees there. Once all of them were fitted in the stomach of her lion, she took off in the direction of Te-osh, blowing through several more Galra fighter ships along the way.

The cruisers were no longer locked in combat; it seemed one of them had won, which explained why they suddenly chose to attack the rebel base that they'd happened to discover while fighting each other. She still had no idea why the Galra had been fighting, but there were more important things she needed to focus on.

Explosions were going off just to her left, and as she followed, she spotted the fighter ships shooting at the stray cargo ship.

"Te-osh!" She sped forward, catching up quickly with the Green Lion's speed as she took two pursuing ships out with tail shots. "Te-osh, I am a paladin of Voltron! I'm here to help!"

A strained voice of pain came through the ship's communicator. "Please! I've been hit…!"

The desperate cough in her voice had Pidge's skin crawling with fright as she shot at the remaining Galra fighter, missing several times. Finally, she let her frustration shred through her voice in a battle cry, equipping the vine cannon and blasting through the last ship, letting it combust with oversized tendrils.

As soon as she landed on top of Te-osh's ship, she boarded it and ran to find the injured rebel, eyes widening when she saw the lifeless form leaning back in the pilot chair.

"Oh no...are you okay?" There was no time for her breath to catch up with her as she gently lifted Te-osh down to lean her against the wall, wincing at her pained grunts.

"The ship...those supplies are needed immediately—!" Te-osh was cut off by her own gasp for air as Pidge removed her rebel mask and immediately went to scanning her injuries with her paladin suit.

"Not without you."

The scans finished quickly, revealing to Pidge just how deep the laser shots had managed to hit on a screen projecting from her wrist. "That's not good…" _Internal organs_. "I'm gonna get you some help, just hold on…"

She looked around the ship desperately, not seeing anything in the medical supplies that could help her with Te-osh's internal bleeding.

Te-osh herself seemed resigned to her fate, sinking back against the wall more and giving no effort to move other than to tilt her head up to get a good look at her savior. "...Matt…?"

An inaudible gasp seized Pidge, jerking her attention from the supplies. "...he's my brother. I'm trying to find him."

"You look so much like him...it's the eyes…" Te-osh muttered through violent coughs, groaning and using all of her strength to reach into a pocket in her cloak despite Pidge trying to stop her from moving.

"Here…" she held a small, orange device out for Pidge. "Every rebel officer has one of these transponders, it's...how we find each other in the field—! He may not have his anymore, but this is his code…"

Pidge's hands trembled as she slowly accepted the transponder, tears prickling her eyes as Te-osh looked at her like she was all the hope left in the world.

"Now please...please help get these supplies to my people…" Her final breath left her, and Pidge had never felt so powerless in her life as she clenched her fists to hold in her tears, staying by Te-osh's side until the fearless freedom fighter who had rescued her brother was laid to rest.

*******

The rest of the rebels who she'd loaded onto the Green Lion boarded Te-osh's cargo ship, and Pidge helped tow it along to the nearest rebel base. A part of her wished to stay and see Te-osh's burial through to the end, but the entire encounter left her with a painful burn in her chest, and she was more anxious than ever to get as far in her search as she could before returning to the paladins.

"This should be far enough, paladin Pidge." Ozar's voice snapped her out of her daze, and a sudden beeping in Te-osh's transponder, now her transponder, gave her something to pay attention to. "Thank you for your help. These supplies will help save many lives in the fight against the Galra. I am sending you my transponder code; may the paladins of Voltron always be able to find me if need be."

"Thank you." Pidge nodded at him before releasing the ship from Green's grasp, giving them one last glance to make sure they entered the planet's orbit, just to make sure nothing happened to them. She didn't want to fail to save any other lives today.

Once she knew they were safe, she sped off into space with her transponder held out before her, left to her own thoughts again. Matt's prisoner picture appeared, and the device immediately picked up on his signal. She let Green guide her, eyes never leaving Matt's picture for even a second.

Seeing his face accompanied by the constant beeping of the transponder had her transfixed; nothing screamed 'Matt' more than the sound of technology going off in the dark of night.

*******

_"I just got a message from dad!" Matt exclaimed, pressing a button on his laptop to stop the constant beeping of his makeshift satellite-esque system beside him on the roof._

_"A message?" Pidge scooted closer to him, not because she was afraid of falling from such a high height, but because she was interested in how his technology worked. Also, hearing from her dad was nice, too, if not a little questionable on Matt's part. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk to dad? It's a secret mission!"_

_Matt snickered, as carefree as ever as he turned the laptop to show Pidge the screen—a meaningless cluster of numbers. "Well sure, but, what the Garrison doesn't know won't hurt 'em. Besides, we're using a quantum frequency with a special two-step encryption! See, dad and I both have this book, right?"_

_She rose an eyebrow as he lifted his book up for her. "Totally."_

_"Well that's the cyper. The quantum frequency tells us where in the book to look, so we need it to read the messages."_

_"...okay."_

_"But that's not the best part! Dad and I know a second requirement; the_ real _code. We both memorized additions and subtractions to numbers we send, so that even if someone intercepts our messages and has the same book, they still don't know what we're saying!" He was speaking with such pride; naturally, Pidge had to shrug it off._

_"Seems a little low-tech."_

_Matt was thrown off a bit at that. "Well...sure, but, you can't rely too much on computers!" He pointed up to his head, smile back already in classic Matt fashion. "The most powerful processor you have is right here—and it can_ never _be hacked."_

_Pidge couldn't help but smile back at him at that, turning her attention back to the screen. "Well? What's it say?"_

_"It says 'bedtime is still ten, even if I'm in space'."_

_"_ Ten _?!" Pidge exasperated, leaning back to stare up at the stars as if to send a mental complaint to her dad, wherever he was in space._

_Matt rested a hand on her shoulder. "Just like the Garrison, what dad doesn't know won't hurt him."_

*******

The nostalgia ached and ate away at her as she rested back in her chair. She missed him as much as she regretted never using their time more valuably. The constant beeping only seemed to remind her how much she'd taken things for granted; she tried to just focus on the technicalities behind the noise.

"Matt's signal is getting stronger. He must be around here somewhere…"

The moment she finally looked up from the device, she saw a single planet in the distance, in the exact direction she was headed. She nearly jumped in celebration, but Green's screen immediately locked onto her destination and zoomed in on the planet, showing the status of its atmosphere and its structure...or in this case, lack of structure.

"Oh no…this...this can't be right…" She swallowed hard, bones physically aching at this point as Green sped through the debris that was falling off of the planet itself.

"This place...it's completely destroyed. But it says he's here…"

The debris would only make the planet a more valuable base of operations, surely. She couldn't help but force a smile.

"It's the last place the Galra would suspect a base of operations to be hidden at...it's just like Matt to think ahead…" Her eyes betrayed her words and mouth, wrinkles straining her face as she spotted a massive monument that seemed to be the only thing in tact on this planet.

She landed Green just in front of it and walked up the steps to where a stone plaque stood at just the perfect height for her to read; the rest of the monument was one massive, elongated gateway decorated with countless heroic statues that all matched the size of her lion.

Anxiety stopped her in her tracks as she observed the massive structure. Something this grand _had_ to be of importance, so she pushed through her anxiety towards the plaque. As soon as she approached, it recognized her presence, letting out several chimes before a programmed voice read the plaque off for her.

_"In honor of the 127,098 brave warriors that stood against tyranny._

_The quest for freedom is won through sacrifice."_

Pidge's eyes widened exponentially, heart rate suddenly spiking beyond the speed it'd already been beating at as she darted around the plaque through the gateway, anxiety finally giving way to complete terror.

"No!"

She nearly tripped over herself, wanting to both run faster and stop completely.

"Please, no!"

The light at the end of the gateway enveloped her, only for darkness to take its place as she found herself at the top of a cliff. Below her was…

_127,098 brave warriors._

A sea of tombstones.

A memorial.

A gathering for dead freedom fighters.

_Dead._

_Her transponder continued signalling forward for Matt._

"...oh no…" Her breath escaped her, and she couldn't even tremble as she slid down the cliff towards the tombstones in blind desperation.

Logic didn't matter to her.

_Matt…_

Reasoning didn't exist.

_Matt…!_

She scrambled past the endless tombstones, barely able to focus on the transponder.

Her brother was alive.

The one person she connected with on Earth…

The one person who was always there for her…

Her idol...was alive...

She could see him...he was looking back at her, smiling at her, waving at her…

...waving goodbye.

Her brother was alive…

...and then, he was taken from her. Taken and replaced by the tombstone that stood before her, towered over her as she collapsed to her knees soundlessly, as though her body finally knew numbness.

The final nail hit her heart when the tombstone chimed, as though Matt himself recognized her presence. And then…

_"Matthew Holt: 0-0-1-0.0-5.2-5—"_

The rest of his birth date reading was drowned out by Pidge's own sobbing. Her hands dug into the ground. Her head hung at its lowest in front of his grave. Tears that she had been holding in for the entire war spilt over.

The sky cried with her, ice-cold rain biting at her suit as she screamed in agony and grief. The pain in her voice resonated throughout the entire memorial for every fallen soldier, mixing with the rain into a ghostly song; a song to narrate the cruel reunion between the soldier who would never see home and the one left behind.

Her head was light, and her vision was blurred, both from her tears and the rain delicately streaming down her helmet. No matter how nauseous she got, though, she still couldn't shut her brain off.

Never again would she see his supportive smile…

Never again would he make another cringe-worthy remark for her to tread around…

Never again would she be able to get him a prank present for his birthday…

She slowly tilted her head up to stare at the tombstone once more, as if to continue torturing herself as penance for being too late to save him…

...and it just so happened to be at the same time she had her final thought about his birthday.

Her eyes glanced over the numbers beneath his name once. Twice.

"Wait...what...Matt's birthday is wrong…" Her voice was barely working, and suddenly she felt like she could feel the ground and the world around her as she reread the date listed beneath his name.

_It's just like Matt to think ahead._

"...a quantum frequency…?" Her earlier disbelief upon first seeing the tombstone suddenly returned, but for completely opposite reasons as her breaths turned to gasps and the darkness that had begun to cave in from all sides began to crack. "It's...it's a message…? The code! But what...what's the second encryption item? I have a copy of the book…!"

She managed to shakily rise to her feet, hands gripping her helmet, willing to cling to the smallest sliver of desperate hope.

As soon as she brought her orange makeshift phone out, she knew what to do, plugging in the numbers on Matt's tombstone.

"Now factor in dad and Matt's additions and subtractions…!" Her fingers worked furiously at her screen. When the useless numbers faded away to reveal the remaining ones, relief flooded through her like a rush of magic, and she could've fallen to her knees all over again as she looked up past his tombstone with a breathless gasp. "These are coordinates…! He's still out there!"

She took a moment to relish in her relief before turning her back on the faux tombstone, rushing back to Green, who was eagerly waiting for her.

And yet, she wasn't the only living being left on the planet as a familiar cloaked man watched her take to the raining skies, quickly rushing to his own nearby ship. As soon as he entered it, it disappeared from sight.

*******

Pidge blocked out everything that had happened in the last ten minutes at the memorial save for the coordinates; it was the only way she could keep her focus forward.

He was out there. He had to be out there.

Explosions suddenly sounded off from in front of her, followed by a sudden beeping signal from Green's map as she tapped the screen.

"This isn't good. Two Galra cruisers and even more nearby." She immediately equipped Green's cloaking device so she could pass by, but as she swerved around the fleets, she could see more explosions as the Galra cruisers shot their ion cannons.

"More Galra cruisers are firing at each other?" She observed, wide-eyed. It was one of the most bizarre thing she'd seen in space, but there was no time to linger and watch as she flew past. She had a mission, and she was going to focus on it.

Her destination appeared before her once she was past the cruisers—some sort of massive asteroid rock with a peculiarly deep crater in the middle for her to investigate. She took Green down the crater, but floating rocks were her only company as she looked around. It took several deep breaths for her to quell her desperation.

"There doesn't seem to be anyone or anything here...huh?" She spotted a cavern near the ground and was quick to park Green in the hidden hollow. Once she'd touched down, she proceeded on foot, keeping her scanners and wrist-lights active as she floated through the cavern.

Rocks continued hanging in mid-air from every side as the cavern took her down once more; she was able to slowly float along until she reached the ground, walls surrounding her.

"It's a dead end…" She observed her surroundings suspiciously, eyes zeroing in on the rocks that seemed to cling to the floor just in front of her. Weren't the rocks supposed to float?

She grabbed one of the floating rocks from next to her and jetpacked forward before dropping it, and instead of staying afloat, it dropped straight to the ground like dead weight.

"Gravity…? Something must be generating gravity nearby…" She scanned with the wrist of her suit, examining every inch of the ground before her until she detected a circular opening that blended in with the ground.

She bent down to open it without flopping down like the rock; clearly the gravity didn't affect her the same way.

The opening definitely seemed to be a trap door of some kind as it twisted and slid open to reveal a massive underground station with technology and a massive screen.

Her jetpack helped her down slowly, but her heart had picked up pace since she'd discovered the opening and wasn't stopping any time soon.

"This must be some kind of spy facility," she observed, walking up to the orange screen that served as the main attraction of the room in wonder.

But she wasn't alone.

The reflection of a masked figure with a cloak appeared in the screen, and she was quick to turn to see them striking at her with a staff. Battle experience kicked in as she ducked to the side, backing away from the figure and running as they attacked relentlessly, giving her no chance to counterattack.

She ran for the wall and jumped off of it, flipping over the masked figure and using the added mobility granted by her jetpack to her advantage. She equipped her bayard and shot it from mid-air, but the enemy was unphased. They skillfully intercepted the green cable and wrapped it around their staff before yanking on it, sending Pidge clashing into the floor with a grunt of pain.

Her senses were a blur as her chest surged with stress. She was acting on the spur of the moment, rolling out of the way to dodge another attack from the staff before backing up on the floor with narrowed eyes. "What have you done with my brother?!"

The line was spontaneous and purely instinctual, but it was enough to confuse the figure into hesitating. Her bayard shot out again, striking her opponent in the face and sending them clashing to the ground this time, mask rolling across the floor.

She seized the opportunity to shove herself to her feet and charge with her bayard, activating the tazing function in advance to shock the figure, only for them to turn.

Time froze, and Pidge did too, bayard only inches away from her brother's face, lighting it up with the green glow of static that was stored in her weapon.

"...Pidge?" His voice was breathless, but it was _his_ voice and _his_ face, and she couldn't think straight as every inch of her trembled.

"...Matt?"

Her bayard took a few moments to disappear into her suit, as if she couldn't decide just how real this was...she didn't need to think to launch herself forward, though, and Matt caught her in his arms, embracing her for the first time in over a year.

"Oh my gosh…! Ever since the Kerberos Mission...they said you were dead, but I knew in my heart that you weren't!"

Tears slid down both of their faces as Matt brought her closer, crouched down just for her, and they could feel each other trembling.

"I can't believe that you found me...it doesn't seem possible…!"

"The thought of you and dad kept me going...it inspired me to do the impossible!"

They pulled back so Matt could hold her face in his hands; so they could look at each other and confirm each other's existence.

"Okay. But seriously, how'd you get this far into space?"

Pidge's heart was still running at a million miles a minute, but they were smiling now as she focused on him, on his presence.

"It's a long story. Is there any chance you've heard of Voltron?"

"Of course I've heard of Voltron." Matt raised an eyebrow as Pidge looked off to the side in an attempt to hide her pride.

"Well...I'm one of the paladins." She couldn't help but look back at her brother, heart swelling at the way his eyes widened in observation of her armor.

"No...no way! Seriously? _You're_ a paladin of Voltron? That's so awesome!" He scooped her up in his arms, both of them giggling as he twirled her around like they were carefree children back on Earth again.

The reunion was cut short as another figure dropped from the opening above, cloak whipping about dramatically while still covering them.

"How touching…" His voice was breathy and deep, and strangely familiar as the siblings immediately pulled away from each other.

"Who are you?!" Pidge demanded, equipping her bayard while Matt crouched down to grab his metal staff.

The man chuckled, letting his reddish-orange eye show, only it wasn't an eye at all; it was a replacement for an eye. "You mean to tell me you don't remember me? Allow me to jolt your memory, paladin!" He flung his cloak off, and Pidge's jaw dropped open at the sight before her.

"...Sendak?!"

He lifted a new metal arm in front of him—one that resembled Shiro's, no doubt a replacement for his old. "Surely you remember the arm you took from me. I certainly do. I wonder what you'll say when I take yours!"

Pidge and Matt immediately fell into battle stances at his threat.

"Stand back Matt!"

"Stand back Pidge!"

They spoke simultaneously, glancing at each other in surprise. It was clear as day that they were both experienced in combat, though, so they resumed their stances with tense smirks.

"Let's show this guy what the Holts are made of!" Pidge declared.

Sendak charged them, forcing them each to jump back, but while Matt stayed close to the ground, Pidge jetpacked into the air; that was her mistake. Sendak grabbed a handle that was strapped to his waist that immediately extended into an electric whip.

Pidge tried to block it with her bayard, but she lost versatility in mid-air and cried out in pain as he struck her to the floor like a bird from the sky. The electricity continued to shock her even as she fell, spurring Matt into action as he rushed in from the other side.

"Stay away from my sister!" He threatened, jumping with a spin to dodge the electric whip.

Sendak growled as he grabbed another whip from his waist to lash with.

Reaction time alone allowed Matt to twist his staff expertly, blocking the sudden second whip, but the impact sent him flying back, allowing the Galra enough time to launch both whips at him once more.

Both whips caught around his torso, trapping and shocking him as he screamed in agony.

"I've got no use for you," he declared.

Pidge took the opportunity to shoot her bayard at him, but Sendak ducked to the side with a grunt and quickly grabbed the cable, dropping both of his whips. Electricity traveled up the green bayard, but Sendak was unphased; it didn't affect his new mechanical arm that he was holding it with.

"Did you think I would forget how your weapon worked?" He tugged at the cable, sending Pidge flying towards him with a yell before spinning her around into a pillar with a loud thud.

She groaned in delirious pain, but quickly recovered enough to roll to the side, dodging Sendak's fist.

He was relentless, chasing after her and striking her with his fists as she parried each one with her bayard, green sparks of electricity flashing with every clash between them. Eventually, his brute power overwhelmed her, and she found herself being flung back once more as he towered over her.

"I shall deliver you and the Green Lion to Emperor Zarkon, and regain his respect. _Then_ I'll hunt down your leader and exact my vengeance on him, too."

Pidge's eyes widened as she backed up, enveloped by Sendak's shadow as he rose both fists over his head to strike her.

"Pidge, going up!" Matt's sudden shout caught the attention of both Sendak and Pidge as he backed away from the screen that he'd just finished typing into. A beeping sound began resonating from it—a countdown.

She understood immediately and launched her bayard just over Sendak's shoulder, pulling herself up and away to a nearby pillar while he was caught off guard. Matt met her there, jumping up to grab her hand as she jetpacked up towards the opening at the top of the facility.

"Don't think you'll get away!" Sendak raced after her, jumping with enough strength to reach out and grab Matt's ankle to yank him back down with him…

...but before he could grab him, the beeping on the screen reached maximum intensity, and an invisible wave of force overtook the room, sending Sendak flying to the side with a roar of frustration while Pidge and Matt were sent up more.

"Nice one, Matt!" Pidge exclaimed, and the siblings grinned at each other as her jetpack shot them up while Sendak floated a little ways below them, unable to chase without a jetpack of his own due to the lack of gravity that now encompassed the room.

But as they reached the opening at the top, Pidge gave him one last glance.

Sendak grinned up at her, teeth shining, seemingly completely unconcerned.

"Victory or death."

With that, they floated out of the underground facility and closed the hatch before leaning against the wall side by side, panting and gasping for air.

Pidge ached from every atom of her being, but one look at the hatch had her walking past Matt with a wince. "Come on."

*******

The Green Lion exited the asteroid with both of the siblings in it, turning and charging the vine cannon.

"He's after Shiro." Her eyes narrowed. "I can't let him escape."

She blasted the asteroid with the cannon, flying circles around it and constantly launching more blasts until vines began to encompass the entire asteroid, closing over the top. She didn't possess enough firepower to destroy it one go, so if she tried that, she risked giving him an exit path.

Once Matt's former facility was completely encased in thick vines, she leaned back with a deep sigh before glancing up at her brother with a grin. "Good thinking back there, turning off the gravity so that we could escape while he was helpless."

Matt grinned back, holding up his hand for her to clap. "You're the one who kept him busy long enough for me to activate the generator! I swear, I have the coolest little sister in the whole galaxy!"

She high-fived him, both of them giggling and smiling at each other. With one last look at the asteroid-turned-forest, however, her smile faded. "He...mentioned Zarkon."

"Zarkon?!" Matt exclaimed, following her gaze. "But I thought Zarkon was gone?"

She shook her head, eyes narrowed in thought. Before she could lose herself in it, though, Matt clapped her shoulder and crouched down with a smile.

"Well, hey. We can think it over later, yeah?"

His smile slowly spread to her once more, and she nodded. "...yeah. Later. And...we'll find dad later, too."

Matt watched her with all the pride in the world as she removed her helmet so she could breathe easier. When she put the glasses on, however, his eyes widened.

"You...kept the glasses?"

She turned to him with a knowing smile. "Of course I did."

*******

_The camera flashed multiple times, capturing multiple pictures of the Holt family in front of the Kerberos Mission's designated ship. Pidge was clinging to Matt with her favorite purple dress in one, then another with their mom holding both their shoulders, then one of the whole family—their dog included, of course._

_After the photoshoot, Pidge walked over to observe the ship, and she would've felt inspiration and admiration for how grand it looked...if circumstances had been different._

_Matt walked over to her from behind, standing at her side with a wide smile as the wind buffeted her hair and her dress._

_"Alright Katie, this is it!"_

_She turned with a surprised look on her face, smile slowly spreading across her face. "...no, call me 'Pidge'. I'm gonna miss that. And you." Her face fell down again as Matt tucked his hands in his pockets with an excited grin._

_"I'm gonna miss you, too. But you know, space! I'm so excited!"_

_"I know!" She shouted, albeit it was more meek than it was loud as she looked off to the side. "I just can't believe I have to go through middle school without you…"_

_Matt rose an eyebrow, looking up thoughtfully. "Well...you can talk to me any time!"_

_That brought her attention back to him. "I thought I wasn't allowed to bother you guys on your mission?"_

_"Of course you're not; but you know the code!" Matt leaned over to her in a whisper, tucking his face behind his hand secretively with a winked. "What the Garrison doesn't know!"_

_She gave a soft chuckle, but Matt wasn't done just yet as he removed his glasses._

_"Hey, check this out!" He placed them in her hands, and her eyes traveled from her brother, to the glasses, and back to him._

_"Don't you need these?"_

_"Not anymore! The Garrison fixed my eyes!" He propped his hand on his head, striking a pose with a grin that almost sparkled. "I look way cooler now, yeah?"_

_"No…not really." Pidge didn't even hesitate to answer, breaking into a giggle that Matt quickly joined in on after a brief moment of sarcastic irritation._

_"I'll be back soon!" He assured, shoving her playfully._

_"You better! Or I'm coming up to space and getting you!" She shoved him back harder, but just as playfully, slipping the glasses on with her hands tucked behind her back. Then, she smiled up at the sky, and she just knew that their inevitable reunion would be the happiest moment of her life._

_She couldn't have been more correct._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there actually was a good amount of stuff that I changed in this episode while still keeping the overall events the same. Future episodes will have even more changes probably. Read the analysis in the next chapter to understand all the changes I made and why I made them; for the most part, though, it all boils down to one thing: this episode was incredible, but didn't have much bearing on the plot, which is bad for a 6 episode season. So, I gave it more bearing on the plot.
> 
> **Wanna keep up with my writing, or do you just want to interact with me and ask questions and read my Voltron-related content? Follow me on Tumblr at the link below! I would LOVE to mingle with you all!**
> 
> <https://charlaxoyates.tumblr.com/>


	5. "Reunion" Rewrite Analysis

-This episode was incredible, I don't think anyone is going to argue about that. However, while it was incredible as an individual episode, perhaps maybe even the best individual episode in the entire series, it was actually not the best in terms of following through with the season's plot. We got Matt. That's it. It didn't contribute to the season or the show's overall plot in any other way, and that's a huge problem when the season only has 6 episodes. So, to fix this, I connected it to the plot by directly showing Pidge the Galra vs Galra conflict going on between Lotor and Zarkon's sides multiple times, be it at Kraydah's Moon, or just after the tombstone scene. She doesn't know what it is, but now she's seen the inner conflict, and now the episode is more vital to the plot. Also, Zarkon got name-dropped in front of Pidge...that's a thing. Not to mention the return of Sendak...basically, I just made this episode much more central to the plot while not changing the overall theme of the episode, which is "Find Matt".

-So, one thing to note; last episode, when Shiro first regained connection with the Black Lion, it was so they could rescue a supply ship and get it to Olkarion. Well, that's the same supply ship that gives Pidge the information on the shopkeepers location, because it was carrying nano-thermite titanium boron!

-I know I cut Lance and Hunk's only lines in this episode, but they were pretty unnecessary and don't fit the tone of this episode anyways, so, deleted 'em.

-As for the shopkeeper, you may have noticed I changed this entire scene, sort of. I made him somebody who actively supplies explosives to the rebels, because honestly, why else would he have Te-osh's location? If he was willing to turn in Pidge to the Galra just for having footage of an escape, surely he'd be willing to turn in information about the rebel's whereabouts. So, I made him a rebel himself. A rebel shopkeeper, who refused to give Pidge the intel because he didn't trust her. He was just doing his job; good guy. Also, this is the first scene where we see Sendak watching her, which, yeah, I replaced the pointless lizard guy completely with Sendak, who is a character that will be important eventually, sort of like a third party even though Lotor is technically a third party against the paladins and Zarkon.

-I changed the Kraydah's moon scene to make it more plot relevant. Instead of it being a random Galra attack, the Galra were fighting each other (last episode, Lotor ordered Acxa to have the commanders attack the outer corners of the Dalterion Belt, and it's mentioned in this episode that that's where Pidge is, so this was set up). While they fought each other, they happened to discover the rebel base. Then, after one fleet won, they decided to try to take out two birds with one stone by attacking the rebel base. Luckily Pidge was there to save their lives. The scene still plays out relatively similar, except it now bears weight on the plot.

-Te-osh's scene is more or less the same. No, it IS the same. I had nothing to change there, very powerful scene that helps Pidge with the "find Matt" plot.

-Matt's grave scene is...yeah. Always an emotional punch to the gut; I had to keep it in. It's iconic. It was difficult to give that scene the same tug that it had in the show, but I did what I could, making every sentence short and simple yet heart-wrenching in that scene. Also, another scene of Sendak following her. This time, we see that his ship can go invisible.

-In the show, Pidge just sees a couple Galra fleets while flying and has to go invisible. This has literally no bearing on the plot and was practically only there to show off her cloaking device to set up for next episode, where it becomes relevant, so instead, she gets to see more Galra vs Galra in-fighting. Ties this scene to the plot while keeping its initial purpose.

-The beautiful reunion scene was the same, up until Sendak shows up. Again, I replaced pointless lizard guy with Sendak. Here's my complaint on lizard-dude; first of all, how would he know to follow Pidge in order to find Matt? He says, "I'm here to collect the bounty on your brother Matt. But a paladin of Voltron and the Green Lion? What a day." So CLEARLY he knew following Pidge would lead him to his real target, Matt, but...how could he know that? It honestly makes no sense. In my rewrite, Sendak follows Pidge because he wants to capture her; he doesn't give a quiznak about Matt. He's just been waiting for the right time to strike ever since he found her alone at the shopkeeper's place. Why didn't he attack at the memorial? Let's just say he arrived once she was already leaving.

-The Sendak fight was, yeah. It mirrored the fight with the lizard dude. Sendak has a new mechanical arm that's much smaller than his old one, since his new one wasn't from the druids. It's just a mechanical arm. Very symbolic for where his character is. I don't really think Sendak would fight with whips, but we'll call that a one time thing. Maybe a weapon specifically designed to help him fight Pidge, though Shiro's the one he's interested in (even though our Shiro is a clone).

-Also, Matt survives, hurray, and they escape because he turns off the gravity in the room completely thanks to his generator. The main reason for this was to show they had to escape Sendak and couldn't beat him. Also, if they beat him, they could've just kept him prisoner and brought him back with them to interrogate him about Zarkon, and...that's not the plot line I wanted to go for for him. He's a rogue threat, not a captured threat. For now. He already played the role of both in season 1, technically, but, we'll see where he goes now that he's a failed commander with zero friends and zero influence.

-Also, Sendak mentions Zarkon to Pidge, so yay, this episode has even more plot significance now.

-It manages to end in the same way, with Matt noticing Pidge kept his glasses, which segways into the beautiful flashback, and yeah. Hurray for this episode! Much happier ending than the last one.

Those are the details I changed and wanted to comment on in regards to this episode! Obviously, the title comes from Pidge and Matt's reunion, and I use the word both at the tombstone scene to help the swerve and at their actual reunion. Very beautiful episode. Individually, it was already a 10/10 despite the lizard dude not making much sense, but here, I've rewritten it to have more bearing on the plot without changing anything that made it such a fantastic episode. Hope you enjoyed!

Next time, Voltron Season 4 Episode 3: Battle Royal (yes, I did change the title of this episode, and I'll explain why when it's posted)

**Author's Note:**

> **Wanna keep up with my writing, or do you just want to interact with me and ask questions and read my Voltron-related content? Follow me on Tumblr at the link below! I would LOVE to mingle with you all!**
> 
> <https://charlaxoyates.tumblr.com/>


End file.
